


One for all and all for one

by thisisamadhouse



Series: Miscellaneous Missing Year [6]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Missing Year (Once Upon a Time)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-15 03:31:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13604634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisisamadhouse/pseuds/thisisamadhouse
Summary: After the latest attack by the flying monkeys on the castle, some of the inhabitants want to feed Regina to the wolves, and with Robin incapacitated, it’s down to the Merry Men to protect her.





	One for all and all for one

**Author's Note:**

> This came from a prompt I got on Tumblr: "Someone goes to try to get Regina but to her surprise the Merry Men immediately stand to her aide Nothing crackly I just would love to see them help and protect her :)"

Regina didn’t hear them coming. She was too busy healing the last remaining victim from the most recent attack by the flying monkeys. The beasts seemed to get more and more ruthless each time, their goal to cause maximum damage obvious.

Regina’s magic combined with the Merry Men’s arrows had driven them away, she thought the danger was ward off, she never would have expected it to come from a group of the castle’s inhabitants.

They gathered behind her, dark looks thrown her way, their whispers of discontent growing louder until one man took the lead, declaring that the monkeys obviously were after the ‘bitch’, so why shouldn’t they just deliver her to them and finally be left in peace? His little speech received some cheers, and soon the bravest of them were moving towards the Queen kneeling on the ground.

They didn’t get far though, for their path was blocked by the imposing stature of Little John. “I would turn back now if I were you,” he told them, his crossbow firmly in his hands, the other Merry Men still standing forming a protective circle around Regina.

“Let us through, we’re going to end this now. No one else has to suffer, they only want her,” the leader ordered, standing toe to toe with John but needing to crane his neck to look him in the eyes.

Little John scoffed. “She is healing those who have been hurt, no one was forced to fight, and if you are stupid enough to think it will stop if they capture the Queen, maybe you don’t belong here.”

The man gaped at him. “You’re really defending her?”

“Well, it’s her castle. You don’t like it, you should leave,” John shrugged.

“It is the Princess Snow’s castle by right,” the man replied haughtily.

“Why don’t you go and tell her about your intentions then? I’m sure she would love to hear all about it,” John replied, and while the leader seemed to consider the idea, those who had followed him looked suddenly uncomfortable.

“The witch is a menace, she will turn against us sooner or later. It is best for all of us if we get rid of her now,” the man insisted, pulling out his dagger, and all hell broke loose.

Regina remained oblivious through it all, her focus entirely on the young man lying before her. He was barely out of his teens, way too young to be fighting against such dangerous beasts. She was trying, and failing, not to think about Henry, and how eager her boy always was to be part of the action, it could be him now, wounded and bleeding on the ground. The mere thought was intolerable.

She had used so much power to help the victims she knew she would run out soon, her energy was dwindling fast. Healing did not mix well with dark magic, even if she had gotten much better at it lately.

She was visualizing the capillaries and vessels that needed to be repaired to stop the bleeding, the flow returning to the various organs, his heart beating stronger, his skin regaining some colors as it was stitched back up, his breathing becoming calmer. She could feel her own blood pounding in her ears so strongly, blocking all sounds, she didn’t notice when the fluid began to stream slowly but steadily out of her ears and eyes, making her vision blurry, the young man’s face was suddenly out of focus, Henry’s appearing in its stead.

She gasped, scrambling to keep the connection and finish the process, but she was jostled, the link was broken and her world turned black.

* * *

 

Regina was in and out of consciousness for two nights and a full day, more out than in actually, a few seconds here and there where she tried to open her eyes but the lids were too heavy to cooperate, and she was sent back to her world of endless nightmares and visions of horrors.

At last she came to, the morning light pouring into the makeshift infirmary they had created after the first attack, making her frown and scrunch her nose as it hurt her sensitive eyes. A light chuckle coming from her right hastened the waking up process to find out who would dare to mock her. When her gaze fell on the outlaw, she internally rolled her eyes, it could only be him.

“You are quite adorable when you wake up, milady,” he commented softly, careful not to disturb his sleeping son. Roland was pressed against his side, nestled under the arm the monkeys hadn’t tried to tear off when Robin had foolishly stood in their path to get Regina.

“You sound pretty chirpy for someone who almost found himself armless through some misplaced sense of chivalry,” Regina retorted, raising an eyebrow in challenge. _Adorable, as if_.

“I had a talented healer, to whom I am entirely grateful,” he said, his tone even, still soft, not raising to the bait.

She snorted, stifling the memories of the panic she had felt when Robin had fallen, clutching his dislocated arm, biting his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood to stop himself from crying in pain. He had been one of the first she had treated once the monkeys had been defeated, but she told herself it was only because she didn’t want to risk his son losing his only remaining parent.

“You wouldn’t have needed healing if you had been reasonable and stayed out of my way,” she countered harshly, too loudly, and Roland shifted, scrunching his nose. Robin soothed him and the boy sighed, his breath evening out again.

Regina looked away from the display -feeling a pang of longing in her heart-, towards the foot of the bed, eyebrows raising when she caught sight of Little John asleep on a chair there. A quick sweep of the room and she noticed that other Merry Men were scattered here and there, most of them asleep or dozing but still clutching the hilt of their daggers tightly.

“Your men are awfully protective of you it seems,” she commented in a lower voice.

“They’re not here for me, Milady,” Robin answered causing Regina to frown, confused. “Don’t you remember what happened before you were brought here?”

She began to shake her head, looking around again as she racked her brain to call the memories back to the surface, until she noticed the young man in the bed opposite them. It all came back to her then, how her attempt at healing him had been rudely interrupted and she had been unable to stop it in her weakened state.

“There was a fight,” she said tentatively, her eyes still firmly settled on the youth.

“Yes,” Robin confirmed. “Some cowards decided we would all be better off without you and took matters into their own hands. My men intervened but we feared they might try something while you couldn’t defend yourself,” he didn’t mince his words, he knew her enough to understand that she wouldn’t appreciate it.

“Who can blame them?” She asked rhetorically as she pushed the covers off her and rose up. She ignored the dizziness and the headache pulsing at her brow, and walked the few steps separating her from the injured lad.

“Regina,” Robin called out, forgetting propriety in his concern, watching her wobbling unsteadily on her feet. “You should give yourself more time,” he tried, but she ignored him.

She gripped the side of the bed as she reached it, looking down at the face that had haunted her troubled sleep as it mixed with Henry’s. He looked fine enough, on the mend, healthy colors had returned to his cheeks and lips, he didn’t seem to be in pain. She still felt the need to check though, and she raised a hand to move it up and down his body and detect any damage she might have missed the first time. The simple effort took away what little energy she had rebuilt and she faltered, her legs giving out, and she would have fallen if not for the two strong hands that clasped her arms and kept her up.

“That’s quite enough exertion for today, I think, Your Majesty,” Little John stated, and she couldn’t find it in herself to protest.

He helped her back to her bed, and she nodded her thanks. “I don’t even know his name,” she whispered, struggling to keep her eyes open as exhaustion threatened to pull her under once more.

“His name is Thomas, Milady, he is one of ours. We took him in after his parents were swept away by some sort of plague,” Robin told her. “We are very grateful for everything you did for us, but now it would probably be a good idea for you to get some more rest.”

She babbled something he couldn’t understand, though he thought he heard the words ‘it was all my fault anyway’ at the end.

“You should rest too, Robin,” John said. “Don’t worry, we will look out for her,” he added when he saw how conflicted Robin was.

“What changed your mind about her?” Robin had to ask, and John shrugged.

“This little one,” he said simply, nodding at Roland. “Among other things. She was most certainly evil once, but maybe people can truly change.”

Robin couldn’t help but smile and he let sleep claim him as well.

* * *

 

A few days later, Regina, Robin and Thomas all left the infirmary, accompanied by the Merry Men and Roland. The young man had profusely thanked Regina about ten times for saving him, rendering the monarch more and more uncomfortable, to the point where she sent a pleading look to Robin for him to intervene. Of course, the outlaw only smiled at her in that infuriating way of his, and let her deal with the blubbering mess his man had become.

She was close to shut him up with her magic when a frantic gesture from Much the Miller’s son, if she wasn’t mistaken, just at the corner of her vision field seemed to do the trick.

They headed to the main Hall, the men watching out and throwing glares at some people, Regina noticed, who immediately bowed and then scuttered away as fast as they could. Some of the rebels, she assumed. John had told them that the leader had been given a choice between imprisonment and leaving of his own accord, and he had chosen the latter, the others had been pardoned on conditions to behave properly. She had been surprised that the Charmings’ decision had been so well-received, she had trouble imagining that the castle’s inhabitants would be on her side rather than with one of their own, but then crowds were fickle like that.

She had gotten a few well-wishers during the visiting hours at the infirmary, they were never there only for her of course, but some stopped by as they went to see their loved ones, and both Snow and Robin had a great time commenting on her various expressions of surprise through it all.

As they entered the Hall and gathered around the Merry Men table, Roland’s hand tightly clasped in her own preventing her from going to her usual seat, she realised that this felt right, that she didn’t have any desire to be on her own as she usually did.

****She sat on the bench, Roland immediately claiming seat on her lap, while Robin settled opposite them, smiling fondly at them, and she found herself returning it for just a second. This rugged band of men, who had no lost love for her not that long ago, had accepted her amongst their rank, protected her even, and decided to give her the chance to prove herself. It was more than she could have ever expected. Perhaps this was a part of what Snow had said she could find if only she kept her heart where it belonged.


End file.
